Acid Attacker Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

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Alexandra Dyer speaks to reporters outside Queens Supreme Court after Kim Williams, the mastermind of the acid attack that left Dyer permanently scarred, was sentenced to 17 years in prison last month. Pool photo by Ellis Kaplan.

Alexandra Dyer speaks to reporters outside Queens Supreme Court after Kim Williams, the mastermind of the acid attack that left Dyer permanently scarred, was sentenced to 17 years in prison last month. Pool photo by Ellis Kaplan.

By David Brand

An acid attacker who doused a nonprofit director with scalding chemicals was sentenced to 17 years in prison by Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis on Tuesday.

Jerry Mohammed, 35, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in December. Mohammed was hired by non-profit bookkeeper Kim Williams to throw acid on Williams’ boss after the boss noticed problems with the organization’s financial records in 2015.

“The defendant — a friend of the bookkeeper that was scamming the non-profit — went to extremes to cover up the fiscal fraud,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “In a vicious, unprovoked attack, the man splashed the unsuspecting victim with acid. This horrible attack caused the victim extreme pain and life-changing injuries to both her face and body.”

Williams was also sentenced to 17 years in prison last month after she too pleaded guilty to first-degree assault.

Though the acid burned off her eyelids, scalp and skin, the former executive director of a Long Island City nonprofit said she forgave the acid attackers in her victim impact statement during Williams’ sentencing.

Rev. Alexandra Dyer began working at the Healing Hearts Initiative in May 2015 and soon realized “something was wrong” with the nonprofit’s finances, the Eagle reported last month.

After Dyer alerted the organization’s chief financial officer, they realized that Williams, the bookkeeper, had stolen more than $750,000 since 2013.

“I was attacked by Mr. Mohammed presumably to silence my actions against Williams for funding a most venial life,” Dyer said as she read from her victim impact statement in court. “The second Mr. Mohammed threw the lye on me I was on fire, on fire and unable to see through my eyes.”

“I’ve been asked if I forgive them and I do, I have from the beginning,” said Dyer, who evoked her religious beliefs in order to move on from the tragic event.

Additional reporting by Christina Carrega.